Spring has come on the Squamish River. Today was a choice between working on the yard in the rain or going fishing in the rain. Going fishing won out. (As I started out I remembered I had forgotten to renew the licences on April 1st and headed back home to my computer to buy them. So all of you, click onto the links at the bottom of the home page and get your licences renewed! Helps avoid those nasty fines when you get checked by the Conservation or Fisheries Officers!) Anyways, I headed out to my first fishing hole and crossed a whole bunch of interesting looking tracks and signs of other wildlife including the scat of a very big bear!
I was eager to try out a new minnow pattern as the pink minnows were skittering in the shallow rivulets and the bulls and the cutties were sure to be lurking at the mouths which discharged to the Squamish River. The first hole proved to be wanting but the second hole yielded a very spunky bull. (For a view of the tilt, click here) After letting this one go I fixed up the fly and a second and third cast yielded a second and third bull trout. Further down the run a nice little gravel bar popped out of the water and the slick behind some rocks looked just right. A few casts later and the rod hammered down. A big silver bar erupted from the water as the chrome iron head summersaulted and then tore a lot of line off the screaming reel. About 15 minutes later I was able to get him steady enough to shoot some video (which is a challenge when the rain is coming down and a 12 pound steelhead wants nothing more but to head back down to the ocean!) (Click here for the hookup battle.) (Click here For a view of the landing)..Sorry but fighting and filming in the rain at the same time is tricky!) As you will note, I made a rookie move and grabbed the line too early!
After three bull trout and a nice steelhead I thought it was a mighty fine day when I started to head home and passed by a swamp. Lo and behold, some splashing caught my attention as a pair of elk were feeding on the green shoots just starting to pop out of the water along the shore. These elk have been transplanted to the Squamish River Valley and if you look closely you can see the radio collar on one of the cows. A little further a nice blacktail doe popped out of the trees and headed for some evening feeding.....Another great day fishing in beautiful British Columbia! Tight lines!
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